


Snow & Books

by afteriwake



Series: Fandom Christmas In July - 2018 [6]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Annoyed Mycroft Holmes, Books, Couches, F/M, Happy Molly Hooper, Matchmaking, Mycroft Feels, Mycroft is Sweet, Mycroft is a Softie, POV Mycroft Holmes, Pre-Mycroft Holmes/Molly Hooper, Reading Aloud, Recommendations, Set Up, Sitting Close, Snowed In, forced vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 15:13:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15512610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: Mycroft has realized that his forced vacation was merely an excuse for his brother and his assistant to play matchmaker with the only other woman he holds in high esteem, Dr. Hooper...but perhaps it is not a bad thing, in the end.





	Snow & Books

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dreamin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamin/gifts).



> I finally have a working laptop again! Yay! So I'm going to try and fill a more prompts I had set aside from the Summer of Surprises for **Dreamin** 's Christmas In July celebration. The two prompts used for this fic were " _I don’t mean to sound like a creep but I couldn’t help but notice you borrowed my favourite book and I just wanted to tell you that you’ll love it_ " and " _snowed in_."

“How did we manage to get into such a situation?” Mycroft murmured, looking out the window as the snow steadily fell outside. Not that he particularly minded the company, but this?

This was not how he had planned to spend what little vacation time he had been forced to take. Who knew that it was actually _mandatory_ for government employees to endure a week away from their post?

And here he was, in a cabin in the Swiss Alps, with _company_.

He realized after a few moments his companion had not answered, and when he turned he saw Dr. Hooper perusing the bookshelf across from him. For it being a rental cabin, it had a decent selection of books of many different genres, but he supposed if the snow usually got this bad, it would be good to have a large enough selection of books on hand. And he knew Dr. Hooper was a voracious reader when she had the time; her own bookshelves, or at least the ones he had seen during his infrequent visits to her home while they had been keeping Sherlock’s secret, had been aplenty and all of them were packed not with books for display, like his own shelves that visitors saw, but well-worn books that had been treated tenderly.

But he supposed Dr. Hooper treated all things tenderly. That was her nature, after all.

And...he was drawn to that aspect of her personality, at least in regards to how she treated _him_.

Tom had been a decoy, a bodyguard of sorts not just to protect Dr. Hooper from anything or anyone who meant her harm, but also, closer to his impending return, to spur Sherlock into acknowledging the feelings he had for the woman. They were plan on his face...or so he had thought.

It had been upon the realization that there was collusion between his brother and perhaps Andrea that those feelings were even plainer on his own face.

Fortunately, the cabin had two bedrooms so there was not the necessity of sharing a bed. Despite the well-meaning push, should anything between himself and the good doctor take place he would like it to be on his own terms. He was sure the fact there was two bedrooms was Andrea’s doing; Sherlock would have insisted on one to make things awkward.

“Dr. Hooper?” he asked tentatively.

She turned with a book in hand and gave him a smile. “I’m sorry. There’s just so many books I want to read here. I mean, I don’t even have half of these at home!”

He made a mental note to take account of which books she read and make sure new copies were delivered to her when they returned to London. “I apologize for being stuck here with me,” he said, moving closer.

“It’s no problem, Mycroft, really. I know it was a set-up. Sherlock thinks he can be sneaky but...his poker face frankly stinks.” She handed him a book. “I think you’ll like this one.”

He took the book from her and turned it over to look at the cover. “Good Omens?” he asked.

“It’s about the Apocalypse and the Antichrist, and it’s quite good,” she said. “I hear they’re going to eventually put it on the telly, one day.”

“Ah,” he replied. He wasn’t one for humour, but if she enjoyed it, he would attempt to read it. He saw she had turned back and was running her fingers over the spines of the book when she stopped at a spine he recognized well. “One of my favourites.”

“Gulliver’s Travels?” she asked, pulling it from the shelf.

“Even if one ignores its satirical elements, it’s still a very satisfying book to read. I particularly enjoy the adventures with the Lilliputians.”

Molly chuckled. “I don’t think I’ve read any of this book since I was a child,” she said. “My father loved it, which shows you both have good taste.” She traced the title and then handed it to him. “Why don’t you read it out loud? We can go through a chapter at a time until we see if we’ll be rescued or if we’ll have to spend the rest of eternity together.” She let her fingers graze his when she pulled her hand away. “Which might not be so bad, I suppose.”

He gave her a fond smile, one of the few he’d managed since childhood, and made his way to the sofa. She sat next to him, curling up close to him, and he opened the book and began to read. This could be indeed a good way to spend the time together that they were snowed in for...and if it led to more, perhaps he might not murder his brother and assistant after all.


End file.
